Meditation Time

I couldn’t think of anywhere
I would rather be.
A flock of birds soared high,
busy, purposeful,
backdrop of rare blue
as my eyes closed.
I settled with the breath.

But then I started to wonder
where they all go to die,
and if the little boy across the road
recovered from leukemia;
I remembered his father had left.
I wondered who was in the ambulance
that just sped past, siren screaming.
Was a life about to change for ever?
Or maybe it was a police car;
perhaps it would be on the news.
I wondered if people would ever
stop killing each other,
if kindness would ever prevail.
And I thought about young “hoodies”,
if they are really quite scared and
do their parents make them eat breakfast?
I wondered why some people give up and others don’t.

 I kept repeating gently,
“Not now”, “not now”.
Internal comments, questions,
persistent like a small child.